Donal Ryan pens Book of the Year

Acclaimed An Post award for Newtown author

Donal Ryan's latest novel ‘Heart, Be at Peace’ was named An Post Book of the Year 2024 before Christmas.

Formally announced during a television special presented by Oliver Callan on RTÉ 1, the award was bestowed on the sequel to Donal's debut offering ‘The Spinning Heart’, which won him Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2012.

The decision to give the overall book of the year for 2024 award to the Newtown native was made by judges Maria Dickenson, General Manager of Dubray; Madeleine Keane, Literary Editor of the Sunday Independent; Elaina Ryan, Chief Executive of Children’s Books Ireland; critic Alex Clark, and Cyril McGrane of An Post.

“Donal Ryan’s writing has earned him a place among the greatest names in Irish literature and this lyrical novel speaks to the very heart of modern Irish society,” Ms Dickenson said. “‘Heart, Be at Peace’ is a masterful achievement and we congratulate Donal warmly on winning this award.”

Like all of his previous work, ‘Heart, Be at Peace’ is set in Nenagh and features places and characters that many local readers can readily identify with. Like its predecessor, it is a story told in 21 voices, and is a heartfelt, lyrical novel that can be read independently or as a companion to ‘The Spinning Heart’. It was inspired in many ways by the author's late mother Ann Ryan, who worked at the checkouts in Nenagh's Tesco supermarket and told her son that many customers wanted to know what became of the characters in his first novel.

Donal's literary work has been published in over 20 languages to major critical acclaim. ‘The Spinning Heart’ also won the Guardian First Book Award and EU Prize for Literature (Ireland).

It was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, as was his fourth novel, ‘From a Low and Quiet Sea’, which won the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature.

Another novel, ‘Strange Flowers’ was voted Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2020.

Donal lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.

He lives in Castletroy with his wife Anne Marie and their two children.